The present invention relates to a waste heat recovery boiler cleaning system, and more particularly, to an automatic programmable system for cleaning engine exhaust gas waste heat recovery boilers, and to a method of automatically cleaning same.
Present systems for cleaning and removing soot or carbon build-up from direct fired boilers include the use of either high pressure steam or air. For the cleaning process, the high pressure steam or air is introduced into the direct fired boilers for removing soot or carbon build-up. In the case of co-generation facilities, where a primary power source, such as a diesel or dual fuel (diesel and/or natural gas) engine emits exhaust waste heat, the waste heat is collected and used by waste heat recovery boilers for hot water heating or steam generation. Quite obviously, while the heat recovered from engine exhaust gas waste heat of the diesel or dual fuel engines can be used quite effectively in waste heat recovery boilers, the soot or carbon build-up can clog up the heat transfer tubes in the waste heat recovery boilers and thereby impede the efficiency and operation of the waste heat recovery boilers.
High pressure steam for cleaning purposes is not normally available for cleaning waste heat recovery boilers, and high pressure air is not very effective. As will be appreciated, the engine exhaust gas waste heat used in the waste heat recovery boilers operates at much lower temperatures than direct fire boilers. As a result, high pressure steam and/or high pressure air cannot normally be used to clean soot or carbon build-up from the heat transfer tubes of waste heat recovery boilers. On the other hand, regular and continuous cleaning of the heat transfer tubes must be performed for high performance and efficient operation of waste heat recovery boilers.